A unique examination of the role of the Indian army in post-World War II India in the run-up to Partition. Daniel Marston draws upon extensive archival research and interviews with veterans of the events of 1947 to provide fresh insight into the final days of the British Raj.

This work presents an account of the several battles fought by the most effective regiments of India before the First World War. The Army in India was mainly composed of Sikhs, Pathans, Punjabi Musalmans, and Gurkhas. Each of these races held a high prestige for courage and military skill in its own way. Reginald Hodder details the famous wars that the brave native regiments of India took part in. He describes the war in Scinde, the first Sikh war, the third Afghan war, the battle of Dargai, and many more. Hodder begins with short introductions to the various regiments in the Indian Army during the period. He writes that almost a third of the Indian Army comprised Sikhs. They were not precisely a race but military and religious caste. The Pathans originated from the Afghan race and inhabited the hills of the northwest border of India. The Punjabi Musalmans were the earliest residents of Punjab, and their firm characteristics were uppermost in that region. They were Rajput and Jat by race, but their clans were numerous. This work is a must-read for anyone interested in knowing the role of the Indian Army in history.

'An incredible and important story, finally being told' - Mishal Husain On 28 May 1940, Major Akbar Khan marched at the head of 299 soldiers along a beach in northern France. They were the only Indians in the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk. With Stuka sirens wailing, shells falling in the water and Tommies lining up to be evacuated, these soldiers of the British Indian Army, carrying their disabled imam, found their way to the East Mole and embarked for England in the dead of night. On reaching Dover, they borrowed brass trays and started playing Punjabi folk music, upon which even 'many British spectators joined in the dance'. What journey had brought these men to Europe? What became of them – and of comrades captured by the Germans? With the engaging style of a true storyteller, Ghee Bowman reveals in full, for the first time, the astonishing story of the Indian Contingent, from their arrival in France on 26 December 1939 to their return to an India on the verge of partition. It is one of the war's hidden stories that casts fresh light on Britain and its empire.

Sahib is a magnificent history of the British soldier in India from Clive to the end of Empire, making full use of personal accounts from the soldiers who served in the jewel in Britain’s Imperial Crown.